Intellectual Property

February 02, 2012

A website called Digital Book World has posted some great predictions for books and publishing in 2012. Some of their more interesting comments suggest that more authors will self-publish their own works, publishers will undergo major, internal overhauls, authors will obtain more flexible and favorable terms in copyright agreements, and publishing companies will create in-house transmedia groups. DBW is already correct in view of the shake-ups at Westlaw and the rumors that Lexis may be for sale to Bloomberg/BNA. But will these legal publishing giants create partnerships with gaming companies? Hopefully, they will create lasting partnerships with companies such as Overdrive to enable law libraries like ours to circulate e-legal books to our members.

September 30, 2011

Another lawsuit (S.D. NY. 1:2011cv06351) has been filed by the Authors Guild (whose President is Scott Turow), the Australian Society of Authors, the Québec Union of Writers, and various individual authors who allege that HathiTrust, a partnership of research and university libraries, has engaged in large-scale copyright infringement “by digitizing, archiving, copying and now publishing ... copyrighted works without the authorization of those works’ rights holders." A partial docket in the case is available from justia.com. A New York Times article cites the Authors Guild claim that the HaithiTrust has 7 million copyrighted works by more than 8,500 authors on servers maintained by the University of Michigan. Acording to the same article, the HathiTrust has digitized about 9.5 million works, of which approximately 27% are in the public domain. The article also references the still pending 2005 suit against Google, which brought similar allegations.

October 14, 2010

The Creative Commons has released a Public Domain Mark 1.0 to identify works that are free of known copyright restrictions. The Mark looks like a gray no-smoking sign with the letter c inside, instead of a cigarette. The Mark is not a total guarantee of free use, and the Creative Commons recommends only relying on Marks used by reputable sources, such as the Creative Commons itself and Europeana (Europe's digital library, museum and archive). Click here to read the Press Release from the Creative Commons to learn more about the issuance of the Mark and its purpose.

December 26, 2007

The United States Copyright Office recently posted the book called “Copyright Law of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code” on its website. The book is still available for purchase in print, but online access now facilitates access to the text of title 17 U.S.C., as amended through 2006. It also contains the Copyright Act of 1976 and all subsequent amendments to copyright law; the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, as amended; and the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, as amended. The Apendix contains miscellaneous related items such as the Berne Convention, the Uruguay Round Agreements, and GATT documents . The book is available in either pdf or html versions and can be accessed by chapters or the entirety.